European Championship Rd5: Swings and surges

6/4/2017 – The 4th and 5th rounds of the European championship saw expected, yet exciting developments. After five rounds, four players stand at the top with 4.5/5: Cheparinov, Melkumyan, Kuzubov, and Fridman. All got there in slightly different ways, but all playing strong gritty chess. They are trailed by a huge pack of 27 players with 4.0/5, but with six rounds to go, the tournament is barely at the midway point. Report and analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

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As every fairy tale has an end, Artashes Minasian’s fantastic start faced bitter back-to-back losses with an important impact on the standing so far: Kuzubov’s victory over Minasian made the Ukrainian the only player with a 100% score after the 4th round. Kuzubov then went on to draw an uneventful game against German-Azeri Arkadij Naiditsch to ensure a share of the lead after the 5th round with 4.5/5.

The talented young GM Kovalev from Belarus was the second player to defeat Minasian, in round five, and is at 4.0/5

After round four, no fewer than 18 players were tied with 3.5/4, hoping to catch up with the new leader, of which three successfully completed this mission. The most notable and somewhat surprising result among these three decisive games on top board was Friedman’s victory over Fedoseev. The young Russian GM, who just recently joined the 2700 club, has been on fire for quite some time in the past few months. Known for his uncompromising and aggressive style, Fedoseev essayed an early f4 and piece sacrifice which gave him a promising attack. However, with a lot of complications present on the board, it was Fedoseev who first went astray and his attack fizzled soon after. Once the queens were off the board, Friedman played a perfect game to bring home the bacon. The German has shown a great deal of fighting spirit and clarity in winning positions which makes him a strong candidate for a great finish in this event, should he continue to play with the same resilience.

The other two victories to allow Cheparinov and Melkumyan respectively to join the lead were surprisingly one-sided matches, in which white prevailed by employing the Catalan defense.

Thus after five rounds four players share first with 4.5/5 while a pack of twenty-seven players trails them by just half a point with 4.0/5. Every one of them is a GM except for one: IM Toms Kantans (2490, and 23 years old) from Latvia who also has four points. The Latvian has played four 2600+ GMs in the past four rounds and has scored 3.0/4 without any losses.

Alexander Riazantsev, who is also the reigning Russian Champion, is at 4.0/5

13-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva, born in Kazakhstan, now living in Russia, has had a very strong start with 3.0/5 and a 2580 performance. She has faced 3 GMs and suffered no losses.

The following rounds will be decisive for many players in different ways. Players on +1 or +2 scores, will try hard to score in order to climb the rungs, while players with +3 or +4 are more likely to play a bit more cautiously to maintain their position, while seeking chances to score without too much risk. The reason us that there is more at stake than just the top prizes, there are also the qualifying spots for the World Cup, a prize in their own right.

Elshan MoradiabadiElshan Moradiabadi is a GM born and raised in Tehran, Iran. He moved to the US in 2012. Ever since, he has been active in US college chess scenes and in US chess. is a veteran instructor and teaches chess to every level, with students ranging from beginners to IM. He can be contacted for projects or teaching.

See also

6/8/2017 – Round eight of the European Championship finally brought the first sole leader of the event: English GM David Howell. One might have expected a cagey draw between the two leaders of round seven, but the two players battled it out, and Spanish GM Anton Guijarro fell. Now tied for second and third are Bulgarian GM Cheparinov and Russian GM Demchenko. Report and analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

See also

6/7/2017 – Rounds six and seven saw an important development: the number of co-leaders has been drastically reduced to two, as two young Spanish and British GMs scored back-to-back victories to take sole lead with six out of a possible seven points. Both GM David Anton Guijarro and David Howell are now the sole leaders, but being an 11-round event, anything goes still. Also note 13-year-old WFM Bibisara (2244 FIDE) who has a 2558 performance so far, all against GMs and IMs!

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.